The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1887-09-16

you can nnu only piece OF wood as Ion
as the human body, or piece as wide a
the outspread human arms, and either O
them is a piece of the cross, come in O.
that piece. Tens of thousands of peopl
are to-day kept out of the Kingdom of GO
because they can not believe every thing.
/ am talking with a man thoughtful
about his soul. who has lately travele'
through New England and passed the nigh
at Andover. He says to me: 81 can no
believe that in this life destiny is irrevo
cably fixed; / think there will be anothe
opportunity of repentance after DEATH
! say to him: 'sMy brother, what has tina
to do with you. Don't you realize that tn
| man who waits for another chance afte
death, when he has good chance befor,
death, is a stark fooll Had not you better
take the plank that is thrown to you nov
and head for shore rather than wait for
plank that may by invisible hands b
thrown to you after you are dead. Do al
you please, but as for myself, with pardon
for all my sins offered me now and all the
joys of time and eternity offered me
now, instantly take them rather than run
the risk of such other chance as wise mer
think they can peel off or twist out OF
Scripture passage that has for all the
Christian centuries been interpreted an
other way.
You say: 81 do not like Princeton the
| ology or Andover theology" do not ask
i you on board either of the great men-of-
war, their portfolios filled with great siege
guns of ecclesiastical battle. But do ask
1thatGgou do believe in and strike out for
4 the pearl-strung beach of Heaven.
Says some other man: 81 would attend
1 IN ral Il IA or1pa nh he
doctrine of election and free agency, but
that mixes me all up" Those things used
to bother me, but have no more perplex-
ity about them, for say to myself: IF
love Christ and live good. honest useful
life. am elected to be saved; and if l do
not love Christ and live bad life will be
damned, and all the theological seminaries
of the universe can not make it any differ
ent." flounderei along while in the sea
of sin and doubt, and it was as rough as
the Mediterranean on the fourteenth night
when they threw the grain overheard; but
saw there was mercy for a sinner, and
that plank took, and have been warm
ing myself by the bright fire on the shore
for three decades.
While am talking to another man about
his soul he tells me: ~ do not become q
Christian because / do not believe there is
any hell at all.n ALL don't youl Do all
the people, of all beliefs and no belief at all,
of good morals and bad morals, go straight
to a happy Heavenl Do the holy and the
debauched have the same destinations! At
midnight, in a hallway, the owner Of a
house and burglar meet each other and
they both fire, and botA are wounded, but
the burglar dies in five minutes and the
owner Of the house lives week after. Will
the burglar be at the gate of Heaven
waiting when the HORSEPOWER comes int
viii the debauche and the libertine go
right in among the families Of Heaven3 I
wonder If Herod is playing on the banks
of the River of Life with the children he
massacred. Iwonder if Charles Guiteau
and John Wilkes Booth are up there shoot
ing at mark. i do not now controvert it.
although must say for such miserable
Heaven l have no admiration. But the
Bible does not say: believe in perdition
and be saved''
Because all are saved, according to your
theory, that ought not to keep you from
loving and serving Christ Do not refuse
to come ashore because all the others, ac-
cording to your theory, are going to get
ashore. You may have different theory
the atmosphere, from that Which o a6ers 1
Ql0QoHe0
from action. Because your theory of light |
is different from others, you do not refnse |
to open your eyes; because your theory of |
AIR is different you do not refuse to /
breathe; because your theory about the /
stellar system is different, you do not re-
Iuse to acknowledge the north star. Why |
should the fact that your theological the
ories are different hinder you from acting
apon what you knowi II you have not a
whole ship fashioned in the theological drv
locks to bring you to wharfage, you have
It least plank. 'Some on broken pieces
Il the ship.n
But do not believe in revivals 70 Then
% 10 your room, and all alone with YOUR
DOR locked give your heart to God and
ON some church where the thermometer
ever gets higher than fifty in the shade.
But do not believe in baptism!n Come
D without it and settle that matter after
'aro. but there are so many inconsist- ,
Mt Christiansm Then come in and show
hem by good example how professors
ught to act s.But don't believe in the
Id Testamentw Then come in on the
ew. "But don't like the Book of Ro- /
lansf' Then come In ON Matthew or n
uke. Refusing to come to Christ, whom q
ou admit to be the Saviour Of the lost be- a
'eSS yVu SoH uot duult Otnef LnlngS, YOU
e like man out there in that Mediter- y
mean tempest and tossed in the Melita r
'eakers, refusing to come ashore until he |,
N mend the pieces Of the broken ship. {.
hear him say: az won't go in
any of these planks until II n
low In what part of the ship they be- 3
ng; when can get the windlass IN the h
sht place, and the sails set, and that keel E,
ece where it belongs, and that floor tim n
r right and these ropes untangled, will m
ashore. ! am an old sailor and know all a,
out ships for forty years, and as soon as a,
AN get the vessel afloat in good shape 1 o
IL come in.n A man drifting by on a II
zee OF wood hears him and says: sYou r.
IL drown before you get that ship recon- cc
-ucted Better do as am doing. I know e;
thing about ships, and never saw one be- y
o came on board this, and can not m
i'm stroke, but am going ashore on ds
8 shivered timber" The man in the bs
ng while trying to mend his ship goes o.
Nn The man who trusted to the plank w,
saved. O, my brother, let your smashed vo
system OF theology go to the bottom !
lie you come in on splintered spar. :.
ONE on broken pieces Of the ship.n ~, LIE
.ou may get all your difficulties settled 90
Garibaldi, the magnetic italian, got his tio
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